Oneness

I think i will prefaceÂ this by noting one big difference betweenÂ the Pharisees (as portrayed in our Library of Writings known as the Bible) and Jesus. The Pharisees created a lot of separation between themselves, and the Jews and others: Don't talk to the Samaritans, don't touch the lepers, hate the tax collectorsÂ (who were traitors and thieves, the worst kind of snitch/rat that even thieves and traitors hate!). Gentiles were out also, and women not only weren't allowed toÂ read scripture but couldn't even be touched in case they were "unclean." The Pharisees were all about separate, separate, block, block, block.

Jesus, on the other (right) hand, included EVERYONE. He broke down the wall betweenÂ the Jews and tax collectors by calling Zacchaeus down from the tree and having dinner at his house, as well as calling Levi/Matthew to beÂ one of the disciples. He touched lepers a lot, healed Romans and other Gentiles, ate with whoresÂ and scumbags and not only talked to the Samaritan woman at the well but would have even drank water from the jar she touched (gasp)! Jesus also had women companions and followers and some of them supported him in his ministry. Every time the disciples wanted to send someone away, including children, Jesus always said "let them come."Â Jesus not only broke down the exclusive barrier between Jews and Gentiles, he shattered the barrier between MAN and GOD by dying for our sins! Â JesusÂ always moved towards joining, togetherness, community, ONENESS.

I can almost hear God's instructions: Jesus, tear down those walls!

NO BOUNDARY

When i read the book â€śNo Boundaryâ€ť by Ken WilberÂ in college, it changed my perception of the universe and everything. I could no longer believe in the concepts of â€śheavenâ€ť (literally â€śthe skiesâ€ť = "the heavens") and â€śhellâ€ť (Gehenna, a burning dumpsite outside of town) as separate places where we would be sent based on our actions, or even our beliefs. I strongly suggest reading the first three chapters of that book, but this isÂ my own explanation and understanding of similar concepts, whichÂ may contain some memories ofÂ the book. (A bit of this is previewed in my article â€śWhat About Punishment?â€ť)

â€śAs simple as that sounds, it is nevertheless extremely difficult to adequately discuss no-boundary awareness or nondual consciousness. This is because our language â€” the medium in which all verbal discussion must float â€” is a language of boundaries. As we have seen, words and symbols and thoughts themselves are actually nothing but boundaries, for whenever you think or use a word or name, you are already creating boundaries.â€ť

â€śTHE ULTIMATE METAPHYSICAL SECRET, if we dare state it so simply, is that there are no boundaries in the universe. Boundaries are illusions, products not of reality but of the way we map and edit reality. And while it is fine to map out the territory, it is fatal to confuse the two.â€ť Â --Ken Wilber

THE UN1TY OF OPPOSITES

The two diagrams above show that each set of opposites is created by the boundary between them. No part of either diagram is separate from the other parts. There is no concave without a convex, and no inside without an outside, EVER, and neither without their boundary. Each diagram is all ONE THING.

This concept, also represented by yin/yang as well as the â€ťtree of the experience of function and dysfunctionâ€ť in Genesis, shows that tall/short, light/dark, good/bad as well as belief/unbelief and all such pairs, exist as two ends of each shoelace, and neither "part" exists alone. These examples exist on more of a continuum than the onesÂ in the diagram, but note that even when we move from "in" to "out," even if it's through a man-made transition like a doorway, which is more sudden than those in natureÂ likeÂ a cave, there is still a period of time where you are some of both - part in and part out.

To demonstrate the concept take a piece of paper, noticing that it has a left half and a right half. Rip off the left half and throw it away. Notice that the remaining piece still has a left half! And a right half, and it always will. Not that Dr. Phil is so wise, but he makes sense when he says â€śno matter how flat you make a pancake, it still has two sides.â€ť

For another comparable, if you got rid of all â€śshortâ€ť people, meaning they are in the short half of all height measurements - note that of everyone remaining, half of them are still short, given the new range. Even if only two people existed, one of them will be the short one. If they are exactly the same height, there is no such thing as tall or short for people.

Below is a visual representation of this. Note that whether each â€śendâ€ť of the pair is on the left or the right doesnâ€™t matter. Reading left to right, or a number line that gets higher on the right, are arbitrary choices. There are very few extremely good, or ugly, or thin people etc. and very few really bad, or cute, or mean (but seems like a lot more, right?) people, and most of us are somewhere in the middle, which is represented by the bell-shape of the curve.

Standard Christianity, or the 4 spiritual laws, draws a diagram like the one below, with Jesus as the bridge to pure goodness, which is God. Good - 0 = God; cute, right? Â It makes sense for itâ€™s own purpose, but it doesnâ€™t represent how God would have to place or separate us for eternity, if itâ€™s based on our level of belief.

If God were to try and separate the good from the bad, or the believers from the non-believers, the following applies in both cases: In the mix of all the people who ever lived, suppose a trillion, and suppose we each have a trillion thoughts and actions during our lives, then by math at least a few somewhere in existence either acted, or believed, half good/correct and half bad/wrong; or committed themselves half to Jesus and acted selfishly the other half of the time. So theyâ€™d be rated at 50% good and 50% bad. What about the next human, who had one more bad thought during his life, or believed one less iota of correct doctrine, or said a slightly less nice thing to the barrista at Starbucks that one day, or believed one iota less that Jesus loves him and died for his sins, so his rating is 49.99999999999999% good, or accurate, or committed. Would it be fair to send one to an eternal hell and the other to eternal bliss? Absolutely NOT, and you know it! The diagram below represents that idea:

The big square is a blow up of the small square, a cross section of all the people who ever existed, wherever we are on the scale. If we are split in two when we die, where are the people who are exactly in the middle gonna go? Blue dude is almost exactly as good or believes infinitesimally close to purple chick. Could one go to â€śheavenâ€ť and one â€śhellâ€ť? That seems insane doesnâ€™t it?

If God is omnipresent, which seems like an assumed belief of most people that is rarely discussed or acknowledged, it would look like this:

If God is omnipresent, then IT is in the knife used to stabÂ someone to death, and in bullets that kill, but also in the hearts of those who sing, dance, work, strive, live and love so deeply every day.

HUMAN1TY

As human beings and doings, we set up boundaries that separate our selves from inside and outside of us.INSIDE:I can talk about â€śmy handâ€ť as if it was outside of me, but my hand IS ME, or part of me, but then again there is no â€śmeâ€ť without all the parts. But what is it inside my brain that sees my hand, that notices all these things, reads this page and thinks my thoughts? Am i my thoughts? If i picture something, like a beach ball, is the image of the beach ball part of â€śmeâ€ť? Some other â€śthingâ€ť inside me thought of the beach ball, something else inside, that is not my thoughts, is seeing and identifying the image of the beach ball, and all the other thoughts.

Since i canâ€™t personally perceive that core thing, because every attempt just results in a thought of it, which is not it; is that source or thing coming from somewhere else? Â What is the power behind, what is running my human, meat shell? It's definitely higher than i am! Is it connected to the outside, all, everything that we canâ€™t see? Is it an emanation of The Great Spirit, of universal love/light? Getting in over my head, try the book!

OUTSIDE:When i look at a tree, what is happening? I am not actually â€śseeingâ€ť the tree, i am â€śseeingâ€ť light rays which bounced off of it, which are then absorbed by the photoreceptors in my eyes, which send electrical signals to other retinal neurons for initial processing and integration, and then via the optic nerve to other parts of brain, which process the image, which is a learned behavior.Between me and the tree and anything else i see, are a bunch of light, UV, X and many other rays, which i canâ€™t â€śseeâ€ť because my being filtered them out, or through evolution we have filtered them out so that we can function. I canâ€™t actually â€śseeâ€ť the tree at all.

Is the tree â€śseparateâ€ť from me? The act of â€śseeingâ€ť includes me, the tree, the light and everything in between; it is one action, one flow, that does not exist without all of the â€śpartsâ€ť involved. (Also note that our human perception is very limited. I we could go inside the sun, it would appear black to us because we can't see any of the rays at such high wavelengths.)

My field of vision is one thing.Â I can pretend to separate things out, but nothing in my field of vision exists without the other things. The tree, plusÂ everything that is â€śnot treeâ€ť complete my one picture.

It is kinda hard to grasp that i could be â€śone with youâ€ť or â€śone with an umbrella,â€ť but imagine a scene where you are having lunch with some friends on a warm summer day on a patio under an umbrella that is creating some nice shade. The umbrella is â€śone with the shadeâ€ť right? Because take away the umbrella and the shade goes with it. The umbrella always creates shade, well EVERYTHING DOES, unless in total darkness, and the shade takes on the shape of whatever is casting it, based on where the light is coming from. The shade cannot be separated from the object casting it.

The umbrella also shielded you from the sun, so you have a little bit less sun damage, a little less wear on your eyes from squinting, because of the umbrella. The umbrella has created permanent influence on your skin, eyes and muscles, that are part of you forever.

Every sound from every word that your friends said to you has made your eardrums vibrate, creating a teeny bit of wear and tear on them, not to mention that every word and thought expressed has caused the neurotransmitters in your brain to fire, creating images and thoughts as reactions to them, and a bitÂ wear and tear on your facial muscles as you react and respond. Those thoughts and the effects of the neurochemicals and reactions are PART OF YOU FOREVER. Every car that drove by also created the same sound and memory effects, to varying degrees. And reading this article has also caused thoughts and created permanent physical effects and memories inside of you. It is part of you.

WE ARE IN YOU.

â€śA hydrogen atom in a cell at the end of my nose was once part of an elephant's trunk. A carbon atom in my cardiac muscle was once in the tail of a dinosaur.â€ť â€• Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World

â€śNo matter whatâ€¦it is with God He is gracious and merciful His way is through love, in which we all are. It is truly - A Love Supremeâ€¦â€ť Â Â
--John Coltrane

"Black holes are where God divided by zero." --Steven Wright

SAYINGS BY ME

â€śThere's no such thing as happiness, just happy more or happy less.â€ť --Tom Minkler

â€śWe are all drops of water in an ocean of Godâ€ť --Tom Minkler

â€śSon of God Son of man The son I seek is the son I am. Now I know who I am I am I am Now I know who I am; I am.â€ť--Tom Minkler

â€śRivers flow. Trees grow. This is the nature of truth. Is there a perfect tree? A perfect rock?Everything is a perfect representation of itself. Â You are the perfect you.â€ť Â --Tom Minkler

â€śI are. We am.â€ť --Tom Minkler

â€śIf you're not here now, where are you?â€ť Â --Tom Minkler

AMAZING SAYINGS

â€śIt's all good.â€ť Â --God, in Genesis 1:31

â€śBe still and know that I am God.â€ť --Psalms 46:10

â€śEverybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.â€ť --Brothers in Blues

â€śMust we choose between left eye and right eye?â€ť Â --Stephen Mitchell

â€śI am created in the image of God, no less and no more, I am.â€ť --Julie100 on Oprah.com

â€śThe kingdom of God does not come if you watch for it. Nor will anyone be able to say, "It is here," or "It is there." For the kingdom of God is within you.â€ť Â --Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 17:20-21)

â€śThere is only one all pervading God. It has only one message - Love all, encompass all and transcend the limits of the selfish gene.â€ť â€• Amit Ray

â€śA spiritual journey is becoming what one has always meant to be-come and always was. One with God's Spirit.â€ť â€• Jazz Feylynn

â€śA free spirit is not bound by this, that, matter, materialism or opinion. They sing, dance and flow on the wind - for they are at one with it. They are nothing and everything - void and expanse. Even space and time does not confine or define them. For they are pure energy itself.â€ť Â â€• Rasheed Ogunlaru